Improvement in apparatus for weaving hair



1. T. DBRIEN & c. c. cournzLL Apparatus for Weaving Hair.

N0 157 53 Patented Dec.8,1874.

. M? mmzz' UNITED STATES FFICE.

JOHN T. OBRIEN AND CHARLES C. OONTBELL, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR WEAVING HAIR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 157,536, dated December 8, 1874; application filed September 10, 1874. i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN T. OBRIEN and CHARLES C. GONTRELL, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Weaving Artificial Hair, &c.-, of which the following is a specification:

In the manufacture of braids and switches of artificial hair it is usual to employ three threads that are stretched. between two vertical pins, and said threads diverge from one of the pins to the other pin, at which point the threads are wound upon the pin in three places. The hair is inserted between these threads, and interlaced at one end until there are sufficient convolutions to hold the hair, and it is then slipped along upon the threads to the previously interwoven hair, thus forming a heading that holds the ends of the hairs,

and said hair and heading are afterward made up into the desired bunch of hair for ornanientin g the head, as a braid or otherwise.

In weaving the .hair into the heading the threads are liable to become loose from the strain; some of the threads, remaining tight, are unduly strained and break, and unless the tension is uniform the weaving will not be perfect.

Our present invention is made for holding the threads firmly while the weaving is progressing, and for allowing the threads to be drawn off from time to the workman.

We make use of aspool-holder that receives the spools of thread, and a clamp for each thread, placed upon a vertical bar, so that the threads can be drawn 011' the spools direct, and avoid rewinding, and the threads clamped as soon as they are drawn to the proper tension, and there is no risk of the tension varying beyond the control of the operator, because each thread can be separately tightened or slackened, and held as required from time to time.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is an elevation of our improved apparatus, and Fig. 2 is an edge view of the clamps and vertical bar.

The vertical pin a is set into a socket, b, and can be turned around from time to time to wind upon it the cords of the heading and allow the hair 0 to hang down, as usual. The cords i are led from the spools 7a through the time, as required by clamps on the vertical bar I to the pin a, and attached, and the hairs c in small bunches are connected by weaving them at one end into the cords of the heading, such hairs being put through between the outside and middle threads, and around the outside threads, until they are sufficiently concatenated to hold the hairs firmly, and then the bunch is pushed along the threads to the previously woven hairs, and then another hunch is introduced, and so on, as now usual. The wire loops h at the edges of the bar 1 serve as guides to keep the respective threads in position, and a clamping-plate, 0, acted upon by :a thumbscrew, 1, is employed at each place where the thread crosses the bar, to clamp the same firmly and hold the thread when the same has been drawn to the proper tension. By slackening the screw-clamps the threads are free, and they can be drawn along either way through the guides h. The spools 1c are received upon the vertical wire 8, and in order to separate them, and allow either one to be turned without turning the other, we make use of the hinged contractile separating-loops u o, one end of each being held by a loophinge, and at the other end there is a loop forming a handle, and the end of the wire snaps into-a hole in the vertical rod 8, after the spring 4 has been distended, so as to hold each separating-loop in place, but allow for easy removal of either ofthe spools. The lower end of the vertical bar l is by preference receivedin a socket, t, upona screw-clamp, w, so as to be attached to the edge of a table; but we do not limit ourselves in this particular, and although our apparatus is especially adapted to holding the threads forming the warps in weaving artificial hair, we do not limit ourselves in this particular, but intend to use the said means for any purpose to which they may be available.

If desired, separate spool-rods may be used, each one being horizontal, or nearly so, and the thread drawing ofi at right angles to the spools and passing through the guide-loops and clamps.

We claim as our invention- 1. In an apparatus for weaving hair, the guide-loops h at the edges of the vertical bar l, combined with the clampingplate 0, and

Q tightening-screw 1", applied to hold the threads Signed by us this 5th day of September, A.

or warps i, substantially as set forth. D. 1874.

2. The spring-loops u 1;, each attached at v JOHN T. OBRIEN. one end by a joint, and catching into a hole in CHAS. O. OONTRELL. the vertical spool-rod. s, in combination with Witnesses: the clamps 0 for the thread upon the vertical GEO. T. PINOKNEY,

bar l, substantially as set forth. I CHAS E. SMITH. 

